Serial Suit Filer Loses One Over Car Wash Mirror

(CN) – A man who collected $100,000 in 2009 from disability discrimination lawsuits lost one against the owner of a car wash, after a California appeals court ruled that there was not violation in the size and placement of a restroom mirror.

Thomas Mundy, who has filed more than 300 disability lawsuits, filed a complaint against Pro-Thro Enterprises based on the mirror in the bathroom at a car wash owned by the company. Mundy sued under the Disabled Persons Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act after he was unable to look in the mirror, which he said was mounted too high. The trial court ruled against Mundy, citing the facts that he could see his reflection on other surfaces in the building and that he did not complain about the incident on the day it occurred. Mundy, who is unemployed, acknowledged that he visits businesses and looks for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Mundy appealed the verdict, objecting to the admission of evidence of his past lawsuits, but the Los Angeles County Superior Court Appeals Division upheld the ruling. On Feb. 2, it modified the decision originally filed Jan. 7. “Given the nature of the ADA violation that was involved in this case and appellant’s failure to offer any evidence that it caused him to experience difficulty, discomfort or embarrassment, he has not demonstrated that a more favorable outcome would have been likely had evidence of his past lawsuits been excluded,” Judge Anita Dymant wrote on behalf of the court.